Gender diversity in developing overweight over 35 years of Westernization in an Inuit hunter cohort and ethno-specific body mass index for evaluation of body-weight abnormalities.
OBJECTIVE: To establish an Inuit body mass index (BMI) norm from a healthy, not malnourished, pure Inuit population and to investigate the development of overweight in the Inuit in Greenland. DESIGN: Longitudinal study with 35 years follow-up on overweight among Inuit in Greenland. METHODS: The heights and weights of 97% of all inhabitants in Eastgreenland in 1963 (n=1852) were recovered recently and BMI calculated. We obtained similar data in 96% of the 50-69-year-old population in Eastgreenland in 1998 and in a random sample of 25% of individuals aged 50-69 years in the capital Nuuk (n=535). RESULTS: Overweight or obesity, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), was found in 30% of all men and 22% of all women in Eastgreenland in 1963, and in 31% of young Inuit hunters in 1963. Such high rates were incompatible with a hunter's way of living. Inuit-specific BMI norms from data on healthy Inuit aged 20-29 years in 1963 were computed: men, 20.2-27.9; women, 17.9-27.7. These differed from the WHO classification (P